Twelve hours after leaving his Fairview home base in the wee hours of Friday morning, today’s Gr3 Okapi Chairman’s Cup candidate Atyaab arrived at his temporary bunker at Milnerton ‘as good as any horse after a twelve hour road trip’.
That was the assessment by the son of Dundeel’s trainer Zietsman Oosthuizen, after he had ridden in convoy with the Choice Carriers float down the garden route.
“He got straight out of the float and rolled in the paddock. He ticked all the travel boxes – he was fresh, ribbed, rockhard, alert and calm,” said trainer Ziets
Watch a short clip of his arrival here
A former Mike de Kock Gr1 winner, Attie’s travels have been well documented since he took on the big guns and was by no means disgraced in the Gauteng Summer Cup last year.
While he is officially a Port Elizabeth flagbearer – the only East Cape raider at the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Festival – the 5yo has never run at Fairview, since being purchased by the Viljoen family last year.
“He is fit and well and ran third in this race last year behind a Snaith horse who won in class record time. I have had time to build his physical capacity in the past few months and we go in full of hope and always living on a prayer!”a full of smiles Zietsman told the Sporting Post.
Interestingly the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate panel discussion broadcast on Friday evening and this morning didn’t even give Attie a mention, in what is clearly an open race.
“Agh, we all entitled to an opinion. This is horseracing. We gotta dream big,” said Zietsman.
Kampala Campari has been withdrawn and the field is thus reduced to nine runners. Atyaab will be ridden by reigning SA Champion jockey, Warren Kennedy.
The race is off at 17h55 and can be watched on the live LQP stream
